Crowning glory

“You rocked the palace!” shouted Prince Harry to Chris Martin across the stage at Kensington Palace; and there was really no better verdict on the Sentebale Concert than that.

Harry, now 31, spent part of his gap year in Lesotho, as a result of which he co-founded a charity to support people with HIV/Aids; and it was to raise funds for that charity, Sentebale (the name means “forget me not” in Sesotho), that he managed to persuade the royal powers-that-be to allow him to use the palace gardens for a concert featuring among others Joss Stone, Brit Award-winning singer Laura Mvula, and spoken word and rapper artist George the Poet.

The headlining band had, as Martin put it, come fresh from a warm-up in a field; and having truly rocked Glastonbury, they could have been forgiven for being a little on the wane in west London.